Iowa – The jackpot in the Powerball lottery has ballooned to an estimated $500 million ahead of its drawing on Wednesday, making it the sixth largest payout in North American history, the operator of the multistate game said.
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The current jackpot for Powerball, played in 44 states, Washington, and two U.S. territories, is worth $306 million if a winner chooses an immediate cash payout instead of annual payments over 30 years, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.
The last Powerball jackpot winner was in November, when a ticket holder from Tennessee claimed a $144.1 million prize. However, that was far smaller than last year’s biggest jackpots of $564.1 million in February and $310.5 million in September.
The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot payout was in March 2012, when $656 million was won in a Mega Millions drawing.
No Powerball ticket holder had all six numbers in the previous drawing on Saturday, although more than 2 million ticket holders won smaller prizes totaling nearly $21 million, according to the lottery website. Five players matched five of the six numbers.
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